


Normal, boring

by unbelievable2



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 00:04:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16006088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unbelievable2/pseuds/unbelievable2
Summary: In the beginning, Blair has a beef withboring...





	Normal, boring

**Author's Note:**

> A 500-words-or-less piece written for the TS Concrit exercise focusing on dialogue

"So," said Blair, "you know that day on the roof…?"

Jim was leaning back against the seat, staring out through the windshield. He didn't even grunt.

"You know…?" repeated Blair. Jim sighed.

"Which day on the roof, Sandburg?"

"The first day, _my_ first day in the department! Not Sarris, Switchman, whatever. The helicopter day! Jim, it was only last week!"

"Oh, Kincaid." Jim deigned to grunt now, a dismissive grunt. "What about it, anyway?"

Blair turned eagerly towards him, twisting in his seat and folding one of his legs up beneath him.

"I mean, that day was terrifying, you know? But such a blast! A real adrenaline ride!"

"Whereas I recall," replied Jim, drily, "being in a stinking sewer, then dangling from a helicopter, and in between being damn glad for Kevlar. _'A blast'_ wouldn't be my description."

"That's my point, man!" Blair started waving his hands about. "Day one, I'm fighting bad guys with toilet doors and vending machines, and being taken hostage; the next six, I'm sitting on a stool next to your desk balancing paperwork all day. Which is it?" Jim raised an eyebrow.

"Vending machines, Chief?"

"I _told_ you that!" huffed Blair. "Jeeesus, the way you tell it, anyone would think I just hid in a restroom all day!" Jim smirked and Blair punched him on the arm. "Stop yanking my chain! Anyway… one day it's all sewers and bullets and psycho white supremacists…"

"And helicopters," insisted Jim, his lip quirking.

"…and helicopters. The next, it's Form 1-18Ds in triplicate, and the biggest mystery is who borrowed your green eraser and failed to put it back in its allotted place next to the blotter." Jim sighed.

"Police work, Sandburg. Most of it is repetitive and methodical and boring. Think of it like your studies. You research, right? And when you find things out, you write them up. That's just what cops do."

"So this stakeout, where clearly nothing is going to happen all night…"

"…is research. Form 1-18Ds are writing it up. The shooting and the sewers is like you one day maybe finding a lost tribe - exciting, out of the ordinary, infrequent. Plus, if you think about it, MCU is gonna have a higher boring-to-manic ratio, just because we get the bigger cases."

Blair turned his head to look out of the windshield, musing.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. And hey, in the quieter times, we can do more testing, right?" He glanced slyly sideways and picked up Jim's exasperated eye-roll.

"Work comes first, Professor, and anyway, you signed up for this tedious ridealong. Changing your mind?" Blair's head whipped back.

"No! Never, man! It's just… I'm kinda surprised so much of it is like that." Jim grinned wryly.

"Boring is your new normal, Chief. Don’t worry. I usually find something comes along about once a week to scare the crap out of us." Blair nodded, smiling widely.

"Like a rollercoaster, huh?"

"You got it, Chief," sighed Jim. "Just like a rollercoaster."

~~~


End file.
